after their change of abode were probably
governed by Babylonian rulers, who held their office under the Chaldaean
Emperor. Bricks of a Babylonian character have been found at
Kileh-Sherghat, the original Assyrian capital, which are thought to be
of greater antiquity than any of the purely Assyrian remains, and which
may have been stamped by these provincial governors. Ere long, however,
the yoke was thrown off, and the Assyrians established a separate
monarchy of their own in the upper country, while the Chaldaean Empire
was still flourishing under native monarchs of the old ethnic type in
the regions nearer to the sea. The special evidence which we possess of
the co-existence side by side of these two kingdoms is furnished by a
broken tablet of a considerably later date, which seems to have
contained, when complete, a brief but continuous sketch of the
synchronous history of Babylonia and Assyria, and of the various
transactions in which the monarchs of the two countries had been engaged
one with another, from the most ancient times. This tablet has preserved
to its the names of three very early Assyrian kings--Asshur-bil-nisi-su,
Buzur Asshur, and Asshur-upallit, of whom the two former are recorded to
have made treaties of peace with the contemporary kings of Babylon;
while the last-named intervened in the domestic affair's of the country,
depriving an usurping monarch of the throne, and restoring it to the
legitimate claimant, who was his own relation. Intermarriages, it
appears, took place at this early date between the royal families of
Assyria and Chaldaea; and Asshur-upallit, the third of the three kings,
had united one of his daughters to Purna-puriyas, a Chaldaean monarch
who has received notice in the preceding volume. On the death of
Purna-puriyas, Kara-khar-das, the issue of this marriage, ascended the
throne; but he had not reigned long before his subjects rebelled against
his authority. A struggle ensued, in which he was slain, whereupon a
certain Nazi-bugas, an usurper, became king, the line of Purna-puriyas
being set aside. Asshur-upallit, upon this, interposed. Marching an army
into Babylonia, he defeated and slew the usurper, after which he placed
on the throne another son of Purna-puriyas, the Kurri-galzu already
mentioned in the account of the king's of Chaldaea.

What is most remarkable in the glimpse of history which this tablet
opens to us is the power of Assyria, and the apparent terms of equali